Village life and idyllic beaches | The Philippines

Time to head back to paradise! It was good Friday and we’d been asking everyone if the jeepneys would be running to Nacpan but no one knew. Craig decided to walk to the bus terminal the night before to re-ask…he came back to realise his money had fallen out his ripped pocket. Man we were so angry! The irony of trying to find the cheapest transport and losing more money than the most expensive transport would of cost. We found out the next morning that there weren’t any jeepneys so we had to hire a more expensive motorbike for two days.

Nevermind ay, sometimes shit happens. I’m sure someone found it and due to it being good Friday they’d presume it was a sign from God. We set off a little grumpy and to make matters worse Craig had diarrhoea, brilliant. When we arrived at our accommodation the owners weren’t there but two western families seemed to be taking up two of the three rooms with toys spread out everywhere and kids screaming. This was not our idea of a relaxing break, what a disaster. I headed off to look for a different place to stay and happened to bump into the owner. She took me to the room and quickly informed me that the families were checking out today. Phew! So it worked out very well in the end with a lovely cottage with veranda and direct sea views.

We were greeted by our lovely puppy who we found out was called Shela and her equally adorable sister named Jackie. They’d regularly run through our property and both gallop towards us before collapsing for belly rubs. Apparently they have a particular soft spot for white people and usually bark at locals!

I loved walking through the village as there were always locals saying hello, curious kids, friendly dogs and basketball games to watch.

a cat asleep outside a little shop

We had a wonderful day just swimming in the clear sea, sunbathing, reading, relaxing and eating. The sun set right in front of our room and it was so peaceful with just a few local fisherman around. We ate dinner at Mama Cherry’s a bubbly lady next door. At night her outside tables on the beach were surrounded by candles and flaming poles and we had a lovely long chat with her son and daughter in-law. Some local girls were selling Ice Candies which we’d seen but never tried and the family bought us one each to try which was sweet of them. You have to like tear a corner of the plastic off and suck the iced candy through the hole. I think we had a rather melted batch and they were already liquid. Craig tore his at the wrong end and the whole thing split and exploded over him. We all had the giggles after that…everyone except for Craig who was covered in sticky coconut juice.

There was only electricity a few hours a night here so after 2am the room was warm but totally quiet so we could hear the waves. As the morning came the waves sounded rather rough. Our beach was a little wavey, but Nacpan beach had totally transformed from our favourite beach to rough whitewash. The waves were huge; a couple meters high and they’d roll over perfectly. They were breaking in shallow waters and it was such a challenge to move my legs through the strong current. The white sand was now covered in seaweed and jellyfish. What a difference a day makes.

Hi Amy, no idea of the name I’m afraid. When you get to the end of the road it splits left and right, left is to a tiny village by a beautiful calm bay and right leads to the main beach where most visitors head to. We went left to the quiet village and there were two or three places to stay. All I remember is they had two or three concrete huts, painted bright orange or green (can’t remember) everyone knows everyone in the village so ask around and they’ll send you to a little hotel. The owner worked at the school and that’s all I remember though! But it’s such an amazing place so enjoy!